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WAR DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR AIR WASHINGTON, D. C. July 18, 1941 Mr. Wm. McC. Martin, Jr., Company B, 39th Infantry, B.N., Camp Croft, South Carolina. Dear Mr. Martin: In further reply to your letter of June 29, I have just received the following information from the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps. You were recommended by that Office for appointment as Captain, Specialist Reserve on June 30, 1941. The Adjutant General's Office, however, was not in a position to act favorably upon it because of the policy recently announced by the Secretary of War preventing the forthright appointment of Selectees to commissions in the Specialists Reserve. The policy, which had become necessary for obvious reasons, has worked to the detriment of the Air Corps in your case. In this connection, I am informed that you were to be assigned to the Technical Staff at Wright Field where your services were very much in demand. Experience has indicated the impracticability of waiving this policy under the existing conditions; therefore, I am suggesting an alternative which it is hoped would make you available to the Air Corps during the end of this year. Officer Candidate Schools are open to all enlisted men of the Army with six months service. These schools, beginning July 1, 1941, and quarterly thereafter, offer a three month's course of training for a commission as a Second Lieutenant. An Information Memorandum outlining the program is attached. I realize this is small consolation, but when you have a commission, it will be possible to make you available for the Materiel Division at Wright Field as a Branch Immaterial Officer. It is regretted that circumstances are unfavorable to more direct action in this connection. Sincerely yours, 1 Incl. St. Clair Streett, Lt. Colonel, A.C., Executive Officer.
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